Soviets In Spain: The
October Armed
Uprising Against
Fascism
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SOVIETS
C&\3 IN SPAIN
THE OCTOBER ARMED
UPRISING A6AINST FASCISM
BY HARRY CANNES
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COMMUNISM VS. SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY
•
THE FEBRUARY STRUGGLE
IN AUSTRIA and ITS LESSONS
By BELA KUN
An analysis of the armed struggle of the
Austrian working class against the on-
slaught of fascism, with special emphasis
on the policies of social-democracy which
lead to defeat.
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SOVIETS
IN
SPAIN
The October Armed Uprising
Against Fascism
BY
HARRY GANNES
WORKERS LIBRARY PUBLISHERS
Of
25' 7
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January, 1935
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SOVIETS IN SPAIN
The October Armed Uprising Against Fascism
By HARRY GANNES
I
THE SWORD OF revolution is drawn in Spain and the scabbard
is thrown away.
For fifteen days during the October. 1934, armed uprising,
all of capitalist-feudal Spain trembled with fear at the spectre
of a successful proletarian revolution. No decisive defeat has
marked the end of the offensive of the Spanish toiling masses.
The "victory" gained by the Lerroux-Robles government was
not the victory of Mussolini or Hitler. The armed battles of the
Spanish workers, led by the united front, the Workers' Alliance,
carried the fight against world fascism and for Soviet Power
to a higher stage. Their aftermath, also, will lead to greater
storming of the heavens of capitalism and speed the day of
victory of the proletarian revolution.
Why was the October armed uprising not victorious in this
tremendous assault of the working class? What were the mis-
takes made? What was the situation that developed after the
fighting, between the classes, victor and vanquished? And what
are the perspectives for the future of the revolutionary movement?
The October uprising swept through all of Spain. But in each
center of the fighting it was influenced and marked by special
characteristics of the class relationships and the particular type
of leadership existing among the toiling, struggling masses.
Throughout the October revolutionary events, we shall see, more-
over, that the failure to carry out the correct Bolshevik tactics
in the struggle for national autonomy in Catalonia at the most
critical moment of battle turned the tide in favor of the forces
of reaction.
The three most important centers of the revolutionary siege
were: (1) the Province of Catalonia, where the revolution was
marked by the fight for national independence, by the vacilla-
tion and treachery of the national bourgeoisie, and the shameful
betrayals of the anarcho-syndicalist leaders; (2) Madrid, the
capital of Spain, where the weaknesses of the Socialist leaders
determined the untoward outcome of the battle there, and (3)
the glorious Asturias Province, where the workers heroically
seized power, Socialists and Communists firmly united, and es-
tablished the rule of Soviet Power for 15 days, holding out long
after their brothers in the rest of Spain had been forced to
give up the fight.
For nearly a year the necessity had been maturing in the
minds of the workers for combatting with force of arms the
Republic w T hich had promised to be one "of workers of all
classes", established in April, 1931, after the flight of King Al-
fonso. Their hopes were destroyed by the constant rise in fascist
attacks under the camouflage of the Republic of 1931. The ful-
some promises made by the Socialists of the peaceful solution
of the agrarian, national and other pressing questions w 7 ere ex-
posed by the realities of the brutal class battles.
After more than three and a half years of the Republic, the
reactionary landlord-capitalist regime was massing its forces
and consolidating its fascist base, chiefly in the powerful Catholic
Church and among the rich peasants, financiers and industrialists,
sufficiently to risk drastic measures against the rising revolu-
tionary discontent.
What little the workers had gained in social legislation and
wage increases in the early part of the Republic was rapidly
being whittled away and their conditions reduced, in many in-
stances, to a state worse than under the open reign of the big
exploiters at the time of King Alfonso. The growing resistance
of the working class and peasantry, indicating the rising tempo
of revolutionary anger, is shown in the rapid increase of strike
struggles before the armed uprising. In 1931, the official figures
show 869,000 strikers, though actually there were more than
3,600,000; in 1933, it is officially recorded that 1,032,000 struck
(though it is estimated 6,000,000 were involved) against wage
cuts, against worsening of conditions, and primarily against in-
creased fascist assaults; and in the first quarter of 1934 alone,
more than 1,900,000 workers had struck, the major number of
strikes being political.
At least 1,500,000, in a country of 23,000,000, were unem-
ployed at the beginning of 1934. The intensified impoverish-
ment of the masses is shown by the fact that the wages of the
agricultural laborers alone had been slashed by 30 per cent.
Revolutionary unrest among the peasants had broken through
repeatedly since 1932, when 69 cases of violent land seizures
were officially registered. In 1933 the number rose to 267, while
in the first three months of 1934 there were 264 seizures of land
by the peasants and 306 seizures of property.
The Republic, which had held out to the peasants the phantom
of an easy, peaceful solution of the land question, had actually
consolidated and strengthened the power of the feudal landlords.
In Spain 60 per cent of the working population are either land
or forest workers. The agrarian revolution is a central task in
the victory over fascism. The largest landowner is the Catholic
Church, which is the foundation-stone of the attempts to in-
augurate a fascist structure on the basis of the most reactionary
section of the Spanish banking and industrial class.
There are 3,000,000 landless agricultural workers in Spain.
They earn from four to six pesetas (from 50 to 75 cents) a day.
Two per cent of the Spanish landowners possess 67 per cent of
the land; while 37 per cent own from 2% to 17% acres each.
In Andalusia and Extremadura, the land is divided into such
small fractions that out of 800,000 peasants only 100,000 can
produce sufficient on their own land to make a bare livelihood.
As a result of the land reforms of the Republic of 1931, only
10,000 peasants profited even in the slightest. By 1933, 100,000
acres of land had been distributed. It was estimated by one capi-
talist newspaper in Spain that it would require 5,000 years to
"solve the agrarian question at this rate".
In speaking of the establishment of the "authoritarian" or
fascist State in Spain the leading fascist forces, particularly Gil
Robles, spokesman of the Right concentration and the reactionarv
''Popular Action", always characterizes Spanish fascism bv ad-
mitting that the Catholic Church will form its chief mass base.
To understand the scope of the Church it is necessary to point
out that, besides being the largest landowner, it is itself one of
the most powerful forces of capitalism. The Jesuits, for example,
the largest and most militant section of the Church (whose poli-
tical head is Gil Robles), control the Urguijo Bank in Madrid
with a capital of 125,000,000 pesetas. This institution further
controls four banks in the provinces with a capital of 85,000,000
pesetas.
Besides this, the Jesuits are interested in the Madrid tram-
ways, in mining ventures, in the South American steamship line,
"Transatlantica", and in many other enterprises.
The potential fascist mass base of the Church, together with
the rich landowners and the finance capitalists, is shown by the
ramifications of its institutions. The Catholic Church in Spain
has 4,804 ''cultural" institutes, with 601.950 students. There are.
furthermore. 27,000 students in secondary schools, and 17.103
in professional institutions.
This whole feudal-capitalist structure was not only left intact
by the 1931 "democratic" Republic, but was permitted to
strengthen itself against mass assault to the point where it could
boldly and cynically prepare for the bloody institution of its
fascist regime.
To understand the course of the revolutionary battles of
October, it is necessary to emphasize that there were three forces
at the head of the proletariat. First, there was the Socialist
Party, having the largest section of the organized proletariat
behind it. Second, the anarcho-syndicalist leaders, strategically
holding leadership in the storm center of Catalonia, where the
crux of the revolutionary fighting was bound up with the na-
tional question and the proletarian revolution. The anarcho-
syndicalists were entrenched in that part of Spain where over
one-third of the whole proletariat is concentrated.
Previous to the armed battles, the Communist Partv strove
with might and main to perfect the united front of the toiling
masses. In Asturias, where the Socialists voted overwhelmingly
to achieve the united front nearly one year before the armed
uprisings, victory was gained and Soviets established. But in
the rest of Spain it was not until September 13, after negotiations
delayed by the Socialist Party leadership, that the Workers'
Alliance was transformed by the Communist Party into the in-
strument of the united front in the fighting.
Long before the actual battles, the Communist Party of Spain
presented the question of preparation for the revolution, and the
tactics for assuring its success, clearly before the workers and
peasant masses. It fought against the vacillation of the Socialist
leaders, the counter-revolutionary plans of the anarchists, and
the disruptions and anti-Communist free-lancing of the Trotzkyite
remnants.
"The hordes of revolution and counter-revolution stand facing
each other, front to front", declared the Resolution of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Spain many months before
the armed uprisings, "and decisive battles will take place shortly.
This is the situation in Spain.
"In this situation the fundamental problem of securing the
victory of the revolution is the organization and bringing together
of the forces of revolution under a firm leadership conscious of
its aims."
On October 5, 1934, after the pre-arranged resignation of the
Samper cabinet, the signal for the inauguration of a drive to-
wards an open fascist regime, a general strike was called through-
out Spain by the Workers' Alliance. The general strike was
followed quickly by the armed struggle against fascism, though
the struggle was weighed down with fateful vacillations and
wrong tactics of the Socialist leaders, and outright sabotage and
treachery of the anarchists, assisted by the Trotzkyites.
It will be seen, however, that the treachery and counter-
revolutionary deeds of the anarchist leaders were the greatest
single factor that robbed the working class of victory.
On the eve of the revolutionary battles, the Communist Party
of Spain flung all of its forces into forging the united front for
the armed battles, for the dictatorship of the proletariat, for
Soviet Power, for inspiring the victory of the revolution.
Where the Communist Party's program won out, there victory
was gained. But since its program had not swept all of Spain,
the treachery of the anarchists, the previous vacillation of the
Socialist leaders, and their failure to draw in the peasants for
the seizure of the land, isolated the Asturias proletariat, giving
the advantage to the forces of fascism.
From Strike to Armed Struggle
The general strike of October 5 went over into the armed
struggle against fascism with the greatest unevenness and with
the greatest lack of centralized leadership and clear-cut objective.
The anarchist leaders held back. They controlled organizations
totalling over 1,000,000 members. This was fatal. One month
later, early in November, the anarchist leadership in Saragossa
called a general strike in protest against the execution of two
revolutionists. But then it was too late. Had they called the strike
simultaneously with the Workers' Alliance, the executed would
more likely have been Gil Robles and Lerroux, butchers of the
Spanish workers.
Fighting then broke out all over Spain. The proletariat went
into action. Though there was no centralized leadership, the whole
world was electrified by the stubbornness and the heroism of the
Spanish workers. They had learned from events in Germany.
They had learned from the Austrian fighting. The Russian Revo-
lution was their guiding banner, though they did not have its
masterly leadership.
In Asturias, the proletariat in this Northern industrial center
of Spain had learned thoroughly every lesson of the revolu-
tionary struggles of the proletariat of the Paris Commune and
of the Russian Revolution. They seized power and held it. They
organized their Red Army, set up a workers' and peasants' re-
public. They organized the civil war, food distribution, their
apparatus of power, action, communication, and distribution of
the means of life.
They communicated with the Communist Party of Spain in
Madrid. They promised to hold out until the last ditch, waiting
for revolutionary reinforcements throughout Spain. They called
on the workers, peasants, and soldiers of all of Spain to follow
their example. But the failures, the treachery of the anarchists
in Barcelona, sealed their fate.
While daily fighting was going on in Madrid, while the
anarchists were betraying, and the Workers' Council in Cata-
lonia was vacillating, waiting for the national bourgeoisie under
the leadership of Companys to take the initiative, the Asturias
proletariat issued as their first proclamation the following
manifesto (See page 10 for reproduction of original):
'WORKERS' AND PEASANTS' REPUBLIC OF ASTURIAS
'Workers! Our glorious movement is spreading over the whole
of Spain. In numerous places in Spain the movement has con-
solidated with the victory of the toiling masses, the workers,
peasants and soldiers.
"As soon as our inner connections have been established and
secured, you will be kept informed as to events in our republic
and all over Spain. When our broadcasting stations are working,
with ordinary and short waves, you will be kept informed.
"Indubitably we have reached the last effort for the consoli-
dation of the victory of the revolution. The fascist enemy is about
to surrender, as also the paid soldiery with their apparatus. Guns,
munitions, and other arms which we cannot name, as the war
material must not become known, have fallen into our hands.
"The forces of the army of the defeated republic of April 14
are in retreat, and our vanguards are being joined by the soldiers
ranging themselves in our glorious movement.
"Forward, workers, women, peasants, soldiers, and revolutionary
militia! Long live the social revolution!
'THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE."
This manifesto was signed by the Revolutionary Committee
of Oviedo. Behind them were 20,000 armed Red Guards, and
100,000 striking workers.
Asturias blazed the way for the future of the Spanish revo-
lution. Asturias was the handwriting on the wall of the fortress
of Spanish fascism. No wonder Asturias, its glorious achieve-
ments, its revolutionary daring, is on the lips of the whole
Spanish working class! No wonder it is the perpetual nightmare
I
Republica de Obreros y Gampesinos
de Astorias
TRABAJADORES:
El avance progresivo de nuestro glorioBo movimiento se va
extendiemio por tod a Espafia; son muchfeimas las poblaciones es-
pafiolas en donde el movimiento esta consolidado con el triunfo de
los trab^jadores, campesinos obreros y soldados.
B6tablecidas y aseguradas nuestras comunicacionea iuteriores,
se os teudra al corriente de cuanto suceda en nuestra Republica y
en el res to de Espafia.
Instaladas nuestras Emisoras de radio, las cuales en onda
corriente y en ooda extra corta, os pondran al corriente de todo.
Es precise* el 6! timo ©sfuerzo para la consolidation del triunfo
de la Revolution,
El enemigo fascista se va rindiendo asi como se van entregan-
do los componentes mercenarios con su aparato represivo, fusiles,
ametralladoras, cartucheria, proyectiles varios (que no podemos se-
fialar) para que no se conozca d*l material de combate de que dis-
ponemos, ba cmdo en nuestras manos.
Las fuerzas del ejercito d«s ladorrotada Republica del 14 tie Abril
se baten en retirada y en todas nuestras avanzadillas se van su-
mando los soldados para enrolarse a nuestro glorioso movimiento.
;ADELANTE TRABAJADORE8, MUJERES, CAMPESINOS
SOLDADOS Y MILICIANOS RKVOLUCIONARIOS!
jVIVA LA REVOLUCiON SOCIAL!
El Comlte Kcvolucioaafto.
MANIFESTO ANNOUNCING ESTABLISHMENT OF ASTURIAS SOVIETS
10
of the bloody horde of the oppressors — the rich landlords, the
myrmidons of the Church, the fascist scum, and the whole rotten
class of capitalist landlords and agents of the foreign conces-
sionaires!
II
In Madrid the general strike of October 5 was completely
effective. But while the Asturias workers went over into the
offensive through mass armed struggles, seizing power and setting
up a workers' and peasants' republic, arousing the greatest initia-
tive of the masses, inspiring them to the most self-sacrificing
and heroic deeds, the Madrid fighting was largely sporadic. It
was restricted mainly to picked shock bands. They struck with
extreme rapidity and surprise, and retreated almost as quickly.
But the great mass reserves of the proletariat were not led to
storm the heavens of capitalism.
Even so, the fighting in Madrid far surpassed the strategy
in Vienna, as the picked bands carried the attack into the strate-
gic centers of the enemy.
The workers were on strike, prepared to fight. But the as-
sault of the great mass of workers was directed mainly against
strike-breakers, while the specially picked shock troops tried to
harry the government forces, hoping to break their morale and
increase the confusion and weakness of the precariously organ-
ized fascist regime.
The great masses, ready for action, were not drawn into the
fighting to the fullest extent because of the basic failures and
vacillations of the Socialist leaders. Largo Caballero and Prieto,
Socialist leaders, from their secret headquarters, directed the
fighting, but they had no clearly defined objective and had not
previously prepared for mass struggles, for the establishment
of Soviets, for arousing the peasants into simultaneous action
which could have led to a victorious revolution.
Workers with machine guns and rifles made repeated sallies
on such central buildings as the Cortes (parliament), the Bank
of Spain, the central police headquarters, the Ministries of the
Interior, War, and Communications.
'"Wherever employers tried to replace striking leftists with strike-
breakers, armed bands of rebels appeared. In almost all instances
there were sharp brushes with government forces protecting the
strike-breakers. It was almost as though the rebel strikers had
taken up the gauge of battle flung down by the two-day old cabinet
of Premier Alejandro Lerroux at an emergency meeting yesterday.'"
(Frank Gervasi. N. Y. American, October 8.)
A description of the strategic attacks of the picked shock
forces is given by the Associated Press cable from Madrid on
October 7:
"Heavy firing broke out at the famous Puerta del Sol, where the
Ministry of the Interior is situated. Assault forces poured into
the plaza there from five arterial streets, a veritable army appear-
ing to converge upon a strategic center down the spokes of a
wheel. ... In one district the revolutionaries captured a score of
Civil Guards and held them as prisoners. . . . Troops began moving
into Madrid, concentrating at strategic points from nearby bar-
racks. They had full war-time equipment. Meanwhile, Madrid
was virtually isolated from the provinces with communications
severed and the only open channels being used for transportation
of troops."
The government was slow to move troops against the workers,
fearing mutiny. Special regiments had to be picked to go into
action. Orders were immediately given for the Foreign Legion
at Ceuta, Africa, to proceed to Spain for counter-revolutionary
service. These troops were sent chiefly to Asturias.
In the workers' districts in Madrid, the fighting continued
long after the central drives were beaten back, but lack of wea-
pons further prevented a development of the battle to a greater
offensive. The capital not falling into the hands of the re-
stricted armed groups, the Catalonian debacle (which we will
discuss later) giving heart to the bourgeoisie, the fighting in
Madrid dwindled and died.
Madrid proved to the hilt the declaration of the Communist
Partv of Spain: "The revolution does not just occur, it is or-
ganized." Insurrection, as Lenin pointed out, is an art. The
organization of revolution cannot be restricted to shock troops
"prepared to do anvthing", but must bring into the offensive the
12
whole forces of the working class, and must arouse into action
the great peasant masses. The workers did not know who, where,
and under what forms of struggle the revolution was being led,
and what organs of power should be set up.
The Socialist leaders resisted up to the eleventh hour the
persistent proposals of the C.P. of Spain for a united front, say-
ing that since the S.P. is relatively the larger party, it was not
necessary for them to enter into united action. The higher stage,
the offensive nature of the struggle, as compared to the Febru
ary days in Austria, inevitably broke that resistance from on top,
The Socialist leaders did not know and could not apply the les
sons of insurrection taught by Marx and so brilliantly devel
oped by Lenin and confirmed by the victorious Russian Revo
lution.
"To be successful", wrote Lenin in his article on "Marxism
and Uprising", "the uprising must be based not on a conspiracy,
not on a party, but on the advanced class. This is the first point.
The uprising must be based on the revolutionary upsurge of the
people. This is the second point. The uprising must be based on
the crucial point in the history of the maturing revolution, when
the activity of the vanguard of the people is at its height, when the
vacillations in the ranks of the enemies, and in the ranks of the
weak, half-hearted, undecided friends of the revolution are at
their highest point. This is the third point. . . . But once these
conditions exist, then to refuse to treat the uprising as an art
means to betray Marxism and the revolution."
Waited for the Fascists
The Socialist leaders did not pick the crucial point, waiting
for the fascists to take the initiative. When they did go into
action, they did not base themselves on the mass struggles at
their height, nor did they treat the uprising as an art; they failed
to organize it for the victory which could have been achieved.
What happened in Catalonia turned the tide of events. For
four hundred years, the central rulers of Spain have been trying
to unify Catalonia with the rest of Spain. When the 1931 repub-
lic was established, the Catalonian people achieved a restricted
measure of national independence which was increasingly curbed
13
as the "democratic" measures of the republic were whittled away
by the Right, and later by the fascist developments.
The crisis in the Samper government, which led to the forma-
tion of the Lerroux-Robles fascist regime, and the armed upris-
ing, was precipitated by the agrarian-national question in Cata-
lonia. The Catalonian Generalidad (local government), some
months before the clash, had passed an agrarian law, partially
favoring the tenants and small landowners. The Supreme Court
of Spain declared this law null and void, thereby wiping out
the limited autonomy already won in Catalonia and the meager
agrarian reform.
The Workers' Alliance, instead of taking the lead for the
independence of Catalonia on the basis of the revolutionary
struggles of the working class, waited for the Catalonian bour-
geoisie to act under the leadership of Louis Companys.
On October 6, after pressure from the masses, Catalonia
was declared independent. The anarchists fought against the
independence of Catalonia, sabotaging the revolutionary strug-
gles of the workers and acting as open strike-breakers and coun-
ter-revolutionists. This delayed the action of the working class,
created further hesitation and disorganization, and permitted
Companys to betray the movement.
Companys Maneuvered
Companys did not go over into the armed struggle, but man-
euvered and treated with General Batet of the Catalonia garrison.
He feared the unloosing of the mass armed struggle which
would sweep over the head of the national bourgeoisie. He gave
General Batet time to organize his troops for assault. On October
6, Companys invited Batet to join the independence movement.
"The general," declared the New York Times cable of October 8,
"asked for an hour to consider the proposition, but before the
time was up he ordered his troops into the streets and began at-
tacking buildings".
Batet's troops seized the central government headquarters
and the radio station from which Companys was broadcasting
his pompous appeals. By this time, the workers had gone into
14
action, but they had received a fatal blow from the anarchist
leaders, and were defeated. This gave encouragement to the
landlord-bourgeois fascist government at Madrid, and the tide
of battle turned throughout Spain after this defeat.
In the suburbs of Barcelona, at Badelona, a city of 30,000
inhabitants, and Sabadell, with 40,000 people, the workers took
control; but with the defeat in Barcelona, without supporting
actions of the proletariat throughout Catalonia (due to the fatal
and initial treachery of the anarchists), the battle was lost. Since
the anarchists had monopolized the leadership of the workers in
this most important industrial center of Spain, their counter-
revolutionary tactics sealed the defeat of the workers.
Communist Party Held First Congress
In the early part of 1934, the Communist Party of Catalonia
held its first congress, attended by more than 100 delegates from
all parts of Catalonia. At that time, the problems of the revo-
lution in Catalonia were clearly outlined by the C.P. Congress.
The main thesis declared:
'The Communist Party of Catalonia, whilst proceeding to the
carrying out of its historical task, the overthrow of the power of
the bourgeoisie and of the big landowners, by mobilizing the
broad masses for the national and social emancipation of the
toiling population of Catalonia, for the struggle for the right of
self-determination right up to separation, for the setting up of
the Soviets of workers, toiling peasants, soldiers, and sailors, will
conduct an irreconcilable struggle against Spanish imperialism,
and the traitors of the cause of the emancipation of the Catalonian
people: the Esquerra, the Generalidad and its agents."
The Communist Party of Spain in its resolution on the lessons
of the armed uprising declared with regard to the national
struggle :
"Another frightful error was the leaving of the issue of struggle .
in the hands of such vacillating persons as Company's. ... If the
revolution is to be victorious, it must remain in all its forms
in the hands of the exploited. This has been once more demon,
strated by our heroic comrades in Asturias and Biscay."
15
Faced by the withering criticism of the toiling masses, by the
sharp movement away from the anarchists to the Communist
Party, the anarchist leaders tried to win back their waning lead-
ership by calling a general strike in Saragossa and other parts
of Catalonia in protest against the execution of two workers.
But this gesture, coming from a source itself tainted with the
blood of the workers, received little supporting response.
The result of the fighting in Catalonia has sharpened the class
lines in the national independence struggle. The bourgeoisie has
been weakened (if not annihilated) as a force in the struggle
for national emancipation. The anarchist chiefs, who were
against national independence, are being exposed in the eyes of
the revolutionary masses as counter-revolutionists. The workers
who went into action have learned the lesson of taking the initia-
tive which will not be lost in the next revolutionary upsurge.
Early in December, 1934, the workers in the anarcho-syndi-
calist trade unions gave a striking expression of their disgust
with the betrayals of the anarchist leadership. At an under-
ground meeting of the Castille division of the anarcho-syndicalist
trade union (C.N.T.), it was decided to join in the united front
of the Workers' Alliance along with the Socialist and Commu-
nist Parties.
All present agreed that it was necessary to condemn in the
sharpest manner the sabotage and betrayal of the Central of
Anarchists ( F.A.I. ), and it was resolved to break all relations
with Garcia Oliver, anarchist leader of the F.A.I. Similar action
was taken in Asturias, Galicia, Leon, Aragon, Catalonia and
Andalusia.
It was further resolved, in breaking with the anarchist lead-
ers and policies, to participate in the next municipal elections by
supporting candidates of the Workers' Alliance, and, where such
nominees are not put up. either the Socialist or Communist
candidate.
Ill
In Asturias, where the united front of the Communists and
Socialists of Spain had been established long before the October
general strike and the armed battles, a workers' and peasants'
16
regime was set up. The heroism, the discipline, the achieve-
ments of the Asturias working class stand as an inspiration to the
toiling masses of all Spain. To this day the spectre of the
Asturias Commune terrorizes and frightens the bourgeoisie. When
the battles were ended or betrayed by the anarchist leaders in
the rest of Spain, the Asturias proletariat held out against the
greatest odds, and fought with daring fury to entrench them-
selves in the fortress of the Asturias Commune, hoping and wait-
ing for reinforcements from the rest of Spain.
They were finally defeated on October 18 only by the great-
est mobilization of the most trusted sections of the Spanish
army, by the terrific air bombardment of the entire Spanish air
fleet, by the ferocious attacks of the cut-throat and w^ell -equipped
Spanish Foreign Legion and the Riff troops imported from
Morocco, and above all by the treachery of the anarchist leaders
in Catalonia, which permitted the Lerroux-Robles regime to
concentrate the bulk of its armed forces against the Asturias
Soviets. Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, was reduced to a mass
of crumbling ruins. Men, women, and children were slaughtered
by the bloodthirsty scum of the Spanish Foreign Legion. This
band of hired butchers is universally known to comprise escaped
convicts, murderers, mercenaries, the worst dregs of the under-
world of every land; White Guard Russians, chased out of other
capitalist countries because of their criminal deeds, Riffs, who
were paid to kill their own people for Spanish imperialism in
Morocco — all under the leadership of General Ochoa, the Spanish
Gallifet, hangman of the proletariat. They were the shock troops
used by the hypocritical Catholic fascist rulers to teach the Astu-
rias proletariat a lesson in Christian ethics.
Held Power 15 Days
For 15 days the workers and peasants in Asturias held power.
These were 15 days of endless fighting without respite for the
Red Army. Yet, notwithstanding this, the Commune set up its
governing apparatus, decreed all lands belonged to the peasants
who tilled them; requisitioned food and supplies for the toiling
masses and the Red Army; established its press; took over the
17
big industries and utilized them for the manufacture of arms for
the revolutionary struggles, and seized the largest bank in
Oviedo, confiscating 15,000,000 pesetas for food, clothing, and
shelter for the unemployed, and for the necessities of waging
war against the fascist regime.
On October 12, the Workers' and Peasants' Government of
Asturias set up its wireless communication with the rest of Spain
and sent a message to the Central Committee of the Communist
Party in Madrid, declaring:
"All of this region is in our hands. We have proclaimed the
Republic of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers. We have 100,000
workers under arms, and a shock brigade of 10,000 men. We have
taken the factories producing war materials. On October 9 we
occupied all of Oviedo, after besieging the city for five days.
Then we proclaimed the power of the workers and peasants.
A number of the Civil Guard and Storm Guard gave up to us.
"We declared the abolition of private property. Alcoholic
drinks were prohibited. A company of machine gunners coming
from Leon were destroyed by us at Campomanes after a hard
battle. Since Monday, October 8, planes have bombarded us. We
shot two down with machine guns. [Later they shot five more,
though they did not have anti-aircraft equipment.] The columns
of General Ochoa, which penetrated Aviles, opened a cannonade
on the workers' homes; they killed women and children and the
best known revolutionists. When General Ochoa penetrated Aviles
he did not dare to enter the interior of the city.
"The women fight heroically in the front ranks. We have
replaced the proletarian prisoners by capitalists whom we are
guarding as hostages. . . . We possess resources and materials to
resist for three months. By radio we know the situation of the
rest of Spain.
"But nevertheless, even if you cannot impede the concentration
of forces against Asturias, we will not declare ourselves van-
quished."
The heroism of the Asturias proletariat, fighting against supe-
rior forces, striving by might and main to retain the Soviet
power, feeding the hungry masses, attempting to establish its
stern discipline and order in the face of the bombardment and
sabotage of the fascist hordes, aroused the admiration and respect
even of its enemies in Asturias, as we shall learn.
Ruled Against Odds
Every bit of food and supplies requisitioned was done so on
the order and receipt of the Revolutionary Committee. The work-
ers showed the greatest revolutionary initiative and ability to
rule in the face of the greatest odds.
Instructions were issued by the Revolutionary Committee
against all acts of pillage, with orders to arrest and shoot pil-
lagers. All of the workers' parties and organizations were called
to the central headquarters of the government to participate in
the administration of the Commune and to arrange for the defense
of the workers' and peasants' republic.
The documents and deeds of the Asturias Commune are now
being studied by the whole proletariat of Spain as examples of
what the workers are capable of when they fight for power. The
Revolutionary Committee of Mieres (Asturias), when it achieved
power, issued a proclamation declaring that "acting on the will
of the people and watching over the interests of the revolution,
it is resolved to take all measures with the necessary energy in
order to direct the course of the movement".
Strict Discipline
These measures provided for the registration of all workers
eligible to bear arms. Registration bureaus were set up. They
provided that anyone caught looting would be shot. Everyone
possessing arms was called on to report at the Committee's head-
quarters, so that only workers could retain arms, while their
enemies were disarmed. All food and clothing were confiscated
for the use of the people and for the Red Army. All members
of trade unions and workers' political parties and youth organ-
izations were called on to report with their cards so that they
could be assigned responsible tasks in connection with the work-
ers' government and the Red Army. In order to organize the
fighting on the most effective basis, it was decreed: "It is strictly-
prohibited to fire shots at airplanes from rifles, pistols or hunt-
ing guns, without the express orders of this Committee".
The Rec' Army, though hastily assembled, was well organized
19
BANDO
HACEMOS SABER: Desde la aparicion de
este bando queda constituido e! Ejercito Fiojo,
pudiendo pertenecer a el todos lor trabajadorci
que esten dispuestos a defender con su san*re los
intereses de nuestra clase proletaria.
Este eje>cito quedara complied y se dirigiri
en la forma siguiente:
!.° Tcdos left qu« h,a?a cumplido los dU: ? echo anos h.a*to
Mnlg ? cinco putd** tr.scr 4m ol $i*rdto Roje
9.° £{nc oes ing-esadcs n fi'.as Undrdn qu« oes«n*jr una feme
I lt d pl taft
3.° Cos eUfttr o o w a o dcsoV«diencias ol mando s#r*n cestigadaft
4.© Qutdan «*clufdos 2c p«rttn«eer al $j4r<He ftclo aqoettoi qui;
tja?an p«rt«n«ido a la <!os« «jep!ctadora.
S op Ufllonifcnl o at los eontrorrfrolucionarlos, la* dfni^roactcV
St nuffttros posicion« r&$t law on ftfrrltn in*tf\<ftfo qflutfrtde i
pe'..rr»U para tdtftetfr \o sciitdsd Socialista.
Molc.-Todos los dias a«a« las echo b 1« maftarta quidc «*kf* U
cficina dt Inscription en las a*t*T*dtnc4as * fl fl?wttamlsjl*
El Comxtk RevolocioturU
ORDER CREATING THE RED ARMY OF ASTURIAS
20
PROCLAMATION
BE IT KNOWN: With the appearance of
this proclamation there is constituted the Red
Army to which all workers ready to defend
with their blood the interests of the proleta-
riat may belong.
This army will be composed of and concern
itself with the following:
1. All those between the ages of 18 and 3 5 are eli-
gible for service in the Red Army.
2. Once within its ranks they must comply with its
iron discipline.
3. Deserters and those disobedient will be punished
with the greatest severity.
4. All those belonging to the exploiting classes are
excluded from the Red Army.
In order to crush the counter-revolution and to pro-
tect our advances the Army will carry on relentless
warfare in order to build a Socialist society.
Note: The recruiting office will be open at the City
Hall each day from eight in the morning until evening.
THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE.
TRANSLATION OF PROCLAMATION ON OPPOSITE PAGE
21
and disciplined, consisting chiefly of the Asturias miners, soldiers,
munitions factory workers, peasants. Leaders sprang from the
ranks. Special corps of miners were organized to dynamite the
troops sent against them. With the greatest daring and skill they
carried out their work. As one Spanish bourgeois correspondent
put it: "They carried out their tasks with amazing efficiency and
without the slightest regard for their own lives".
Another correspondent tells of the Workers' Red Army march-
ing into Oviedo:
"I watched them march through. It was an indescribable
spectacle. The first of the men carried baskets with self-manu-
factured hand-grenades. With the shout: 'Forward, comrades!"
they charged into the withering fire of the Civil Guards, who were
barricaded in the building of the telephone headquarters."
One doctor in Oviedo. who was impressed into the medical
service of the Red Army of Asturias, writing in the reactionary
Spanish newspaper. Estampa. of his experiences, tells of the
undying heroism of the Asturias workers. The wounded began
to pour into the hospitals. Workers badly injured were impatient
at the delay of the doctors. They wanted to get back to the
firing lines. The doctor tells of one fighter who was brought in.
" 'Patch me up quickly', one wounded man demanded. "Do me
first. I want to get back. We must take Santa Clara Barracks.
It is full of Civil Guards.'
"I looked at the man. He had a gaping wound on the side of
his neck.
" "You must go to bed', the doctor ordered.
'"The man refused to go to bed and went off without attention.
The next day he was dead in the roadway.
"A wounded man arrived, supported by a thin youngster with
the face of a woman. He carried a rifle slung over his shoulder
and bandoliers of cartridges. Turning to me. probably because I
Asas nearest, he declared: 'It's terrible'. 'What's terrible?' I asked.
"Comrade Belarme has been shot. When he saw that we were
not making as much progress as he would have liked at the pre-
fecture, he dashed forward, without cover, to bomb the place, and
they shot him down with a volley.' 'Do you think', I asked, 'that
your ideals are worth all that, all this slaughter?' 'We want nothing
more than Communism', he answered. 'But don't forget, my friend".
22
I pointed out, 'your attempt to establish Communism has collapsed
everywhere else in Spain.' 'That was because the others didn't
understand how to go about the business', he declared, uncon-
vinced. 'We are not plunderers, or thieves or murderers. We are
proletarians and our ideal is social equality. Only those who
work shall be permitted to eat.' "
\^ hen the Asturias proletariat was finally defeated, the fas-
cist slaughter was frightful. Hundreds were massed against walls,
men, women, and children, and mowed down with machine guns.
The bodies of the dead and wounded were piled up and burned
together.
The capitalist press in Spain and throughout the world began
its usual campaign of slander against the heroic Asturias work-
ers. They were accused of every atrocity in the long lying cal-
endar of the history of counter-revolution.
At the very moment workers were being imprisoned, tor-
tured, shot, burned, the world capitalist press spread stories of
the revolutionaries' "atrocities''. But no similar lies were so
quickly destroyed. After a brief period of vituperation, the most
rabid fascist papers in Spain halted their slanders for lack of
even the slimmest shred of proof. The heroism, discipline, brav-
ery of the Asturias workers overshadowed all else, and inflamed
the Spanish workers with the greatest enthusiasm. Even Hitler's
Nazi correspondent in Madrid was forced to deny the atrocity
stories against the Asturias workers, comparing them with the
Allied anti-German war atrocity fables. We have not space
here to print the mass of complete and definite denials by the
fascist forces themselves in and out of Spain.
Preparing for Greater Battles
The reign of terror in Asturias now is the worst in all Spain.
But the proletariat, despite its frightful toll, estimated in Asturias
alone between 2,500 and 3,500 dead, is manifesting no spirit of
defeat: is even now preparing for greater battles, terrifving the
butchers who rule over them with machine guns and cannon. So
fearful are the Spanish landlord-capitalist rulers of the Asturias
proletariat to this day. that the Asturias coal mines have not been
23
opened because they do not know what will happen if the
workers get together again. A proposal was made in a Madrid
paper that the mines be closed indefinitely and ultimately
abandoned.
To what depths has the desperation of the Spanish bour-
geoisie gone when it seriously proposes slicing off one of its
own vital limbs in order to destroy or disperse the proletariat
with it!
But meanwhile, the enraged capitalist dogs are wreaking their
vengeance on Socialist and Communist prisoners. The jails are
full to bursting. Every day workers are tortured or killed.
The Asturias workers look to the workers of the whole world
for help and support. Only mass united front actions of Social-
ists and Communists, rallying thousands behind them, can save
the lives of hundreds of these heroic fighters who so gladly were
ready to die for the workers' cause.
The epic of Asturias will forever live in the hearts of the
workers of the whole world, glorious inheritor of the Paris Com-
mune and of the Russian Revolution, the beacon that will light
the way to a rapid victory of the proletarian revolution through-
out all of Spain.
IV
The full lessons of the Spanish armed uprising have not been
drawn yet, the movement having been too vast, information too
scattered and general, with the fascist censorship clamped down.
But the main, decisive lessons, the chief causes for failure, those
responsible for betrayal and treachery, and the outstanding short-
comings are clear.
Let us hear from a Socialist leader first, Andelicio Prieto,
who, together with Largo Cabellero, partook in the leadership
of the general strike and the armed struggles in Madrid. Cabe-
llero was arrested and is now in prison. Prieto, after the failure
of the fighting, was able to escape to Paris.
In Paris he was interviewed by Le Petit Journal on October
31: "To what do you attribute the check of the revolutionary
movement, if it truly represents the opinion of the majority?"
24
he was asked. His answer was: "First, to the rapidity and vio-
lence of the repression. Second, to the weakness of the agrarian
reinforcements, influenced by the defeat suffered during their
general strike. Third, to the obstinacy of the syndicalist and
anarchist elements."
While all of this is true, it is not the whole truth. No one
can deny that the execrable treachery and betrayal of the anar-
chist leaders stabbed the armed uprising in the back.
Prieto's first reason for failure conceals not the weakness
of the proletariat in the face of the ferocity of fascism, but the
failure of the Socialist leaders to prepare sufficiently for the
armed insurrection beforehand, their resistance to the united
front until shortly before the armed uprising, their reliance on
small bands instead of mass armed attacks, and chiefly their
vacillations in putting the question of Soviets as organs of power
before the masses.
In his second reason, Prieto also conceals much. Failure of
the agrarian strike, which weakened the peasant forces in the
struggle, was due to the bad leadership of the Socialists.
Above all, they did not put forward the question of the seizure
of the land by the peasants, a slogan which would have had the
effect, not only of drawing the peasants into the general uprising,
but also of influencing the army, composed mainly of the sons
of the peasants.
Criticism Confirmed
We will quote Prieto again in answer to another question,
because it is here that he enters into some self-criticism, and
fully confirms the Communist criticism of the Socialist Party
leaders since the establishment of the Republic in 193 1. In the
Republic the Socialists had played a leading role, filling the
masses with democratic illusions on the solution of their prob-
lems by collaboration with the bourgeoisie.
"How do you explain," Prieto was asked, "the discontent in
Span, and the success of Gil Robles [leading fascist] m the
last elections?"
Prieto answered: "Precisely because of the Right policy of
25
the Left regime. This government born with the republic and
created by the republic became the rampart of forces adverse
to the republic. It is true that the Left government of Spain
carried out the policy of the Right before Lerroux and Samper.
In this period of perishing capitalism, the Spanish bourgeoisie
could not even carry through the bourgeois democratic revo-
lution.
"It is this disillusionment of the masses with the republic
they so much desired that explains the victory of Gil Robles."
The Left regime referred to, which carried out a Right pol-
icy, is, of course, the regime of the Socialist leaders with the
Left Republicans.
Communist Analysis
Soon after the defeat of the revolutionary struggles in Spain
the Communist Party analyzed the causes for the failure. We
list the basic points of this analysis:
1. The political and organizational preparations for the revo-
lution were insufficient. Its program was not made known to
the whole of the working masses. The fact was ignored that the
revolution is not made; it is organized.
2. The peasants were not drawn into the revolutionary
struggles. This, too, is the reason why the army, consisting mainly
of peasants, did not go over to the side of the revolution.
3. The problem of power, the fundamental question of every
revolution, was not placed clearly before the workers and peas-
ants. The masses were not acquainted with the organs of power,
the Soviets, how they should function, how and where they
should be organized.
4. In the very heart of the Socialist leadership, side by side
with revolutionists, ready for any sacrifice, were elements who
did not conceal their hostility to the revolution.
5. The general strike was not carried out before the Lerroux-
Robles government was formed. This left the initiative in the
hands of the enemy.
6. The struggle for national independence in Catalonia was
left to the initiative of the vacillating and treacherous bour-
26
geoisie, such as Companys. To be victorious, the revolution, in
all its forms, must be under the leadership of the proletariat.
7. The monstrous betrayal and treachery of the anarchist
leaders was the worst blow of all and showed them, as Marxism
has always described them, as enemies of the proletarian revo-
lution, who in the struggles in Spain were found on the barri-
cades on the side of fascism.
Anarchists Sabotaged Struggle
The deeds of the anarchists in Spain in the decisive struggles
against fascism again proved up to the hilt the historical Marx-
ian criticism of the whole theory and tactics of anarchism.
Not in all the history of anarchism have their leadership and
basic ideas been so costly to the workers as in Spain. This flows,
not out of the tactical mistakes of the Spanish anarchists in this
particular situation, but out of the whole conception of anarchism
in relation to the class struggle. In Spain the damage was so
great because the anarchists had won leadership over 1,000,000
workers and the leaders carried out their counter-revolutionary
conceptions at a time when the workers were entering armed
struggles against fascism.
Nothing expresses the treacherous conceptions of the anar-
chist leaders more than their published comment when a number
of Spanish Communists were sent to the African penal colonies.
Borrowing their phrases from the Trotzkyites, the anarchists de-
clared to the Communist prisoners: "Go, build Socialism now in
one country!"
In their criticism of the capitalist State, the anarchists also
criticized as bitterly and savagely the dictatorship of the pro-
letariat, thereby diverting the workers from the only force and
power which could defeat and destroy the rule of capitalist-
landlord ruling power. In this they have a common ground with
those who, like Kautsky, consider the fascist dictatorship as on
the same plane and basically indistinguishable from the prole-
tarian dictatorship.
Anarchism, basically, is the Utopian, petty-bourgeois phil-
osophy developed into a system by Proudhon and given organi-
zational expression by Bakunin, the bitterest enemy of Marx in
the First International. It is based chiefly on the remnants of
the petty bourgeoisie who in the early stages of capitalism are
driven into the ranks of the proletariat, and carry on a violent
struggle against capitalism for the abstract conception of "lib-
erty" and "equality" which expresses the Utopian desire of the
enraged petty bourgeoisie to preserve their individual property
and "liberty".
Because of the late development of capitalism, and hence of
the proletariat, in Spain, the anarchists were able to get a foot-
hold, and carry over their leadership into a period when the
proletariat was maturing rapidly toward seizure of power and
the establishment of the proletarian dictatorship.
The anarchist leaders' idea is that, since the proletarian dic-
tatorship is no better than the capitalist dictatorship, when the
one is threatened by the other, why take sides? Furthermore, not
believing in proletarian struggles, they fight against strikes of a
political nature, especially one leading to the armed insurrection
for workers' power.
The victory of the workers in the Soviet Union has shown
the correctness of the Marxian-Leninist goal of the establish-
ment of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the most powerful
weapon of the revolution in combating and destroying, not only
the capitalist State, but the last vestiges of the capitalist class
and capitalist relations which try to perpetuate themselves after
the seizure of power by the working class. Every revolutionary
struggle since 1871 has shown again and again that unless the
working class is able to establish its dictatorship, it cannot hope
to proceed with the development of the new society, Socialism.
Especially at a time when the Spanish bourgeoisie were dropping
all pretenses at democracy and bringing their class dictatorship
out into the open, with its more brutal, chauvinist and repressive
characteristics, the "impartiality" of the anarchists towards the
"State" proved to be the most valuable counter-revolutionary
service in the interest of fascism.
The anarchist leaders fought against the Soviet Union and
the proletarian dictatorship more vigorously than against the
28
capitalist State, considered by them freer than proletarian rule,
which they called "red imperialism".
Sabotaged General Strike
Hence, when it came to the decisive test, when fascism sought
to establish its open, brutal dictatorship, the anarchists, true to
their historical role, sabotaged the general strike, the armed
uprising for Catalonian national independence, and the prole-
tarian revolution and the establishment of Soviets throughout
Spain.
Anarchism, in the person of the Spanish anarchist leaders,
performed a service for Spanish capitalism which its mercenary,
criminal Foreign Legion could never have performed alone, with
its most modern means of mass murder.
The lessons of the Spanish revolution are of international
significance, and will have international, immediate repercus-
sions in the class struggle and the world battle against fascism
and for Soviet Power.
In an article in International Press Correspondence, on
"The Civil War in Spain and the International Proletariat",
Comrade Ercoli writes:
"The recent events in Spain have once again provided a con-
vincing object lesson of the international validity of Leninism
and Bolshevism. The victory of the revolution demands revolu-
tionary strategy and revolutionary tactics. There are no revolu-
tionary tactics and strategy outside the practice and theory of
Bolshevism. . . .
"The October struggles of the Spanish masses which revealed
this incapacity of the Socialist leaders by an acid test, represent
a decisive stage in the development of the Spanish revolution. The
working masses of Spain will learn from their experience. . . .
"The Communist Party of Spain was not only the sole working
class organization which had a correct policy toward all the fun-
damental problems of the revolution, but it was also at the head of
the working masses in their struggles in the October days. The
red flag of the Communist Party waved victoriously over the bar-
ricades in Asturias and it was carried into the struggle by the
most determined of the proletarian fighters of the glorious Com-
mune of Asturias. . . .
29
"The Spanish revolution is still proceeding. The Spanish bour-
geoisie is well aware that the workers and peasants have not
suffered a final defeat, and the fear of further mass struggles
has already made a section of the bourgeoisie hesitant. . . . Our
heroic Spanish Communist Party, which has now stood its test of
fire gloriously, will succeed in placing itself at the head of the
workers and peasants and in leading them to final victory.
''However, the Communists and the other revolutionary workers
of Spain must receive practical assistance from us in their struggle.
The international solidarity of the proletariat and the interna-
tional struggle of the proletariat to support the Spanish revo-
lution must contribute practically to clearing the way for further
mass struggles in Spain and to assisting the Spanish workers and
peasants in their difficult struggle. The international solidarity
of the proletariat must and will contribute to the defeat of fascism
in Spain and bring the day of the final victorious struggle of the
proletariat nearer both in Spain and in the rest of Europe."
Two outstanding factors underlie all developments in Spain
since the October armed uprising. On the one hand, the toiling
population shows no expression of defeat. There is no pessi-
mism. Its fighting spirit was not crushed. Spain seethes with
growing discontent and new rapidly maturing battles. The great
reserves of workers and peasants who were not drawn into the
revolutionary struggles are restive. The workers' organizations
not only were not destroyed but are growing. The masses are
discussing with the greatest enthusiasm the course of the battles,
the reason for failure, and especially the achievements of the
Asturias Soviets. The anarchist leaders are losing their grip on
the Catalonian workers, and the Communist Party is growing
rapidly.
On the other hand, the fascist regime has the greatest diffi-
culty in solidifying its rule and asserting its brutal dictatorship.
Its mass base is w r eak, disorganized, conflicting, indecisive. The
ruling landlords, industrial capitalists, financiers and the blood-
sucking Church hierarchy have conflicting interests which sharpen
as the crisis of Spanish capitalism grows worse.
In its hysteria, fear, and rage, the Spanish bourgeoisie slaugh-
30
ters and harasses the arrested toilers, but is split even on the
question of the degree of its revenge. And it is here that the
international action of the workers, the united front in support
of the Spanish fighters, becomes of the greatest importance, of
the most powerful immediate value to our Spanish comrades
against their hangmen. While killing hundreds of workers in
secret in Asturias, only several have been executed openly as a
national example to the revolutionists. These butcheries were met
with strike actions on a large scale.
No Spiri* of Defeat
A correspondent of the Daily Worker in Madrid described the
situation existing on November 1, nearly one month after the
fighting:
"There is not the slightest spirit of defeat among the workers.
The glorious Commune of Asturias is the main topic of discussion
among them. Asturias has become the guiding light of the Spanish
workers. They hail 'La Commune' of Spain. The workers are
learning more and more of what happened; are discussing their
mistakes, preparing to gain by them. This is heightening the
despair of the bourgeoisie. . . .
"Fascism is having the most difficult time trying to institute
its dictatorship over the workers. The type of fascism, based
on the Church and religious trimmings, sought by Gil Robles,
is finding the greatest difficulty as the workers are learning what
fascism is. The briefest picturization of the situation in Spain
today is that of an invading army which has managed to seize
some of the important fortified points, but is awaiting with fear
and trepidation the attack of a hostile population."
Failure and inability to consolidate the fascist regime in
Spain led to a partial cabinet crisis on November 17. Foreign
Minister Ricardo Samper Ibanez and War Minister Diego Hidalgo
were forced to resign. The fascist leader Robles precipitated
their resignation on the ground that Civil Guard forces should
have been increased and greater counter-revolutionary measures
taken against Socialists and Communists in Asturias before the
armed uprising. Robles, unlike Hitler, repeatedly denies fascist
intent and declares his love for the Republic.
31
Crisis Is Acute
The economic crisis, especially acute in Spain before the revo-
lutionary struggles, now, with the "victory" of fascism, is plung-
ing the following articles: "After the Glorious Revolutionary Days,
greater masses of peasants. Unemployment almost doubled when
work began after the general strike. The financial condition of
the government, always increasingly bad, is now grave. The cost
of the civil war was so great that the government gladly accepted
donations from every monarchist and capitalist source to help
pay for the slaughter of the workers. Ex-King Alfonso donated
50,000 pesetas. All of the big companies and landowners added
their bit. Even the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., and
other Wall Street corporations in Spain contributed thousands
of pesetas to the fund for the armies which killed the workers.
The mutinies which occurred in the armed forces during the
fighting hang over Spanish fascism like a heavy cloud. Besides
the regiment at Gerona, and the sailors at Santander, who refused
to go into action against the workers, there is the case of Lieu-
tenant Colonel Lopez Bravo of the African troops who were
ordered to Spain. Bravo was arrested and is now in prison be-
cause he declared: "They will not shoot down their brothers".
The discussion of the lessons of the revolutionary struggles,
stirring the toiling and peasant population, is sweeping through
the army.
"There is practically nothing left of the state and spirit of the
republic of 1931," declared the monarchist Deputy Colva Sabila
in the Cortes after the insurrection.
This meant that the process of the Right of destroying through
"democratic" means all of the gains of the 1931 republic had
been practically achieved. The agrarian reforms are now wiped
out. The conditions of the workers are being made worse. The
Socialist and Communist municipal representatives are being
thrown out, and fascists appointed in their place. Church reforms
are ended, and the Church has been strengthened as a fascist
base. The autonomy measures granted to Catalonia and Biscay
under the constitution are now completely annihilated.
32
The Communist Party of Spain has come out of the battles
intact and strengthened. Prepared for illegal struggles by the
previous period of long suppressions, by the world experience
of fascist developments, by the leadership of the Communist
International, the organizational structure of the Party was not
injured by the terror. The Central Committee of the Party meets
constantly in Spain and directs the increasing activity of the
Party. Immediately after the battles, the first issue of the illegal
organ of the Party, Bandera Roja (Red Flag) appeared contain-
ing the following articles: '"After the Glorious Revolutionary Days,
the Battle Is Not Ended"; '"They Are the Savage Assassins"; "The
Truth About Asturias"; "A New Ignominious Affront of the Sec-
ond International"; "Prisoners of the Same Cause"; "Unity and
Solidarity"; "Soldiers! Class Brothers: Our Place Is on the Side
of the Revolution!"
Those Socialist members of the Cortes who were not arrested
met to discuss the question of whether they should participate in
the sessions of the Cortes. By a vote of 23 to 16 they decided
to boycott the sessions until the arrested deputies were freed.
The leader of the Right Wing, Besteiro, who fought against the
armed struggles, did not vote, deciding to participate in the
parliament of the fascist Lerroux-Robles government.
Anxious to suppress the truth of the present situation in
Spain, the Lerroux-Robles regime not only enforces its censor-
ship, but does everything possible to prevent delegations from
other countries investigating conditions. The Paris lawyer. Opp-
man, of the International Juridical Association, and Rab'ate, rep-
resentative of the United Confederation of Labor of France, who
went to Madrid to aid the arrested workers and to learn of con-
ditions in Spain, were both thrown into prison. The two British
investigators, Miss Ellen C. Wilkinson, former Labor Member
of Parliament, and the Earl of Listowel, author, were kidnapped
in Oviedo on November 17, and driven for 17 hours to the
border and then told to go or their lives would be in danger.
The French and Portuguese governments cooperate with the
Lerroux-Robles fascist regime by deporting fleeing revolution-
ists, and turning them over to be imprisoned or killed.
33
The International Labor Defense of Spain, from official fig-
ures, and from its own reports, estimated the losses of the revo-
lutionary struggles in Spain as follows: 3,000 dead, 5,000
wounded, 90,000 prisoners. With regard to prisoners, the official
figures show that in Barcelona there are 6,000 in prison and
3,000 in Madrid. All jails are frightfully overcrowded; five
or six prisoners being packed into cells meant for one.
The Spanish section of the International Labor Defense,
addressing itself to the workers in all countries on their tasks
in defense of the Spanish workers in the present situation,
declared:
"Thousands of families and orphans are left completely des-
titute. Mass arrests are still being made all over Spain, and there
are not enough prisons to hold the arrested so that they are being
packed like cattle into improvised concentration camps. . . .
"The Spanish section of the I.L.D. took its fighting position
from the first moment. We know it is our duty to bring help
quickly to thousands of prisoners, thousands of families and
children of dead revolutionaries. We are exerting our utmost
efforts. We are calling on the toiling masses everywhere to aid
us in the tremendous task, for without help we cannot carry it out.
"We need your help!
"Tn the name of the heroic Spanish workers and peasants who
have given their lives in the struggle against fascism, we appeal
to the toiling masses of the whole world to aid us in carrying
out our task.
"In Spain the Socialists, Communists, anarchists, have fought
side by side against their class enemies. Carry out your solidarity
action on the same broad basis of the united front of all workers,
and of all organizations of the toiling masses."
VI
In the very midst of the stirring heroic battles of the Spanish
workers, the Communist International appealed to the Labor and
Socialist International for immediate united front actions in
support of the embattled Spanish proletariat. On the barricades,
Socialists and Communists were shedding their blood to stem
the rise of fascism. Where the united front had been solidly
34
achieved, as in Asturias province, the workers were able to show
the world marvels of revolutionary accomplishment. At the very
height of the widespread fighting in Spain, workers throughout
the world felt that flesh of their flesh was in action, and ached
to come to their aid. To give living expression to this urgent,
overwhelming desire for united solidarity actions, the Commu-
nist International took the initiative.
On October 11, both the Communist International and Young
Communist International addressed the Socialist world bodies
very sharply, putting forward the need for immediate, joint
action on an international scale.
"A victory for the fascist-monarchist reaction in Spain would",
said the Communist International's wire to the Socialist Interna-
tional, "- — after the seizure of power by fascism in Germany and
Austria — mean not only immeasurable torture for the workers and
peasants of Spain, but would signify a heavy blow for the inter-
national proletariat.
"Only the fighting unity of the working class of all countries
can bring real help to the Spanish workers, and bar the road to
Spanish and world reaction. At this decisive moment, when the
bourgeoisie is endeavoring to shatter one of the fighting troops
of the international working class, the Spanish proletariat, the
Communist International calls upon its Sections to join the other
labor organizations in the organization of mass meetings and dem-
onstrations in solidarity with the Spanish working class."
In order not to permit this appeal, at this critical moment,
to be treated as a communication to be answered in due course
by the Socialist International, the C.I. declared it was delegating
Comrades Marcel Cachin and Maurice Thorez. leaders of the
Communist Party of France, to negotiate immediatelv with the
leaders of the Labor and Socialist International.
Four days later, in response to this appeal, an historic meet-
ing took place at Brussels between the two Communist delegates,
and Emil \ andervelde I Belgium ) , and Friedrich Adler I Austria),
for the Executive Committee of the L.S.I. The full text of the
stenographic report of these conversations was published by the
French Communist daily, UHumanite I \ovember 3. 1934 I .
35
Action Urged
At the outset Vandervelde stated that their two representatives
were present only to listen and transmit their report. Cachin
and Thorez declared immediate action was necessary internationa-
ally, for while they spoke, Socialists and Communists were being
shot down by the Spanish fascists.
Cachin declared: "We pose the question as precisely that of
immediate action in favor of our Spanish comrades." He outlined
the following immediate program for joint action:
1. Organization of meetings and demonstrations jointly un-
der the slogans: "Down with the Lerroux government! All for
the defense of the workers and peasants of Spain in the fight
against reaction!"
2. Joint plan in the trade unions to stop the transportation
of troops or ammunition for the Lerroux government.
3. Joint action of the Socialist and Communist parliamentary
fractions in all countries demanding the convocation of par-
liament to protest against the barbarous executions of the Spanish
workers. Similar action in the municipalities.
4. Immediate material support to aid the victims of the Span-
ish repression to be collected jointly.
S.P. Leaders Stall
Adler and Vandervelde hemmed and hawed, suspected Com-
munist "maneuvers", pleaded they had no mandate to accept
immediate action, declared that the situation in the different
parties of the L.S.I., made prompt response out of the question.
Vendervelde concluded by saying he believed the outlook ap-
peared favorable, but that the matter would have to be taken up
at the L.S.I. Executive Committee meeting in Paris on Novem-
ber 13.
On the day the Communist representatives met with the Social-
ists, the Spanish workers, after five days' battle, marched into
Oviedo, capital of Asturias province. When the Socialist Inter-
national finally rendered its decision, on November 18, (general
36
Ochoa marched into the ruined city of Oviedo and shot hunderds
of workers.
The Communist Party in nearly all countries addressed ap-
peals to those Socialist Parties which had not already entered
the united front to join in actions for the support of the Spanish
workers.
In the United States, besides letters to the National Executive
Committee of the Socialist Party, the Daily Worker addressed
numerous appeals for united action — from the very first day of
the fighting to the last day of the fighting, and repeatedly after-
wards. There was no direct response.
Stormy discussions featured the L.S.I.'s Paris sessions. Great
pressure was being exerted upon all Socialist Parties by the
working masses for the united front, especially on the concrete
question of support to the Spanish fighters.
There were three distinct groupings. On the one hand, there
were the Parties who had already established the united front
with the Communist Parties (France, Italy, Spain, the Saar)
who were for joint international action. There were others, such
as Belgium and Austria, who were for no international joint
actions, but for an ending of the ban on national negotiations.
Lastly, there were the Party officialdoms who were bitterly against
any united action. These were primarily the Scandinavian Par-
ties, Holland and the British Labor Party.
Of these latter Parties, particularly the Scandinavian and
Dutch, the leaders berated the Spanish workers for having taken
up arms against fascism altogether. These parties proposed, if
joint international action could not be avoided, under the pressure
of the masses, that it shackled with the counter-revolutionary
proposals that the Soviet Union give up the proletarian dictator-
ship, and release the enemies of the workers' State.
The final decision provided that it was not '"advisable" or
"appropriate" to continue negotiations between the Internationals.
A Step Forward
The same letter, however, indicated a step forward. It de-
clared on behalf of the Executive Committee of the L.S.I., that
37
the decision of March, 1933, forbidding unity of action with the
Communist Parties, without approval of the International, had
automatically expired with the new uprisings, and from now on
"every section may carry on its negotiations in complete inde-
pendence".
This opens up a new vista in the struggle for the united front
against world fascism.
Class lines throughout the world are growing tighter, sharper,
more bitter. The Spanish workers entered the battle against fas-
cism bravely. Everywhere the fight must and will be taken up —
encouraged, inspired and emboldened by the self-sacrificing dar-
ing of the Spanish proletariat. They showed us the way to unity
of action in its highest phases.
In the United States fascism is no longer an article of im-
port. It is developing rapidly, even to the extent of the actual
creation of the armed fascist hordes.
The united front against war and fascism has become the
most burning question before the American working class. The
growing response of the S.P. rank and file to the persistent
united front proposals of the Communist Party has forced recog-
nition from all sections of the Socialist Party leadership. It is
attested to, particularly, by the vehement resistance to it by the
Right wing, reactionary leadership of the Socialist Party.
In its Boston meeting, in the latter part of November, 1934,
the majority of the "Left" National Executive Committee of the
Socialist Party, anxious to block the realization of the united
front against war and fascism, did not even take the trouble to
reply on the specific issue of united action in support of the
Spanish proletariat, many of whom were at the very moment
facing death, torture, or long imprisonment.
Despite this failure, united actions in support of our Spanish
brothers, Socialists, Communists and anarchists must be carried
out.
The Spanish prisons are full to overflowing. Each day sees
the development of new battles, new strike struggles, intensified
resistance, and at the same time, more barbarous assaults on
38
the workers by the Spanish landlord-bourgeoisie in its efforts to
bolster up its fascist regime.
In every city, in every locality, efforts must be made for
united actions in behalf of the Spanish workers with a view to
(1) Arranging mass demonstrations and meetings as an ex-
pression of solidarity with the Workers' Alliance in Spain, and
the heroic, fighting working class; (2) Demonstratitons at the
Spanish consulates and embassy against the execution and im-
prisonment of Socialist, Communist and anarchist prisoners;
(3) for the collection of funds, food, clothing and other material
aid and defense for the prisoners of fascism in Spain.
The united front on behalf of the Spanish workers is not
only an international necessity in the present phase of the strug-
gle in Spain, the defensive fight against fascist terror, for the
lives and freedom of the arrested Socialists, Communists and
syndicalists, but is a prime requisite for speeding the future
offensive battles. It will strengthen, furthermore, the interna-
tional solidarity of the workers everywhere in their fight against
fascism.
To the extent that we can most rapidly and the most effect-
ively establish the united front for the defense of the Spanish
workers against fascist terror shall we be doing our utmost in
helping to speed the day when the toiling masses of Spain will
be able to carry their glorious revolutionary battles of October
to a victorious conclusion.
39
APPENDIX
Appeal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
of Spain
The following appeal of the C.C. of the C.P. of
Spain was published in October after the revolutionary
fights. It contains a criticism of the tactics of the united
front organs, the "Workers' Alliances", which in some
localities, in addition to Communists and Socialists, also
comprised anarchists.
To All Workers and Peasants of Spain, Catalonia,
the Basque Provinces and Galicia:
The provocation of the exploiting class of Spain, which set
up the Vatican-fascist government, called forth an outburst of
popular indignation which has shaken the regime of the bour-
geoisie and landowners to its very foundations.
Tired of suffering hunger, exploitation and terror, the work-
ers rose in order to take up the fight for bread, land and freedom.
In very many places, especially in Asturias and Biscay, the red
flag of revolution and Soviet Power fluttered in the breeze as
a symbol of a new Spain, freed from misery. The heroism of
the workers in the fight reached its highest point in the glorious
epoch of red Asturias, where the socialist republic of the workers
and peasants was proclaimed, which is still being maintained to-
day, defended with the breasts and weapons of the slaves of the
pits, in the midst of a hell of blood and machine-gun fire let loose
by the fascist dictatorship government of Lerroux-Gil Robles,
who sent their brutes of the Foreign Legion and the colonial
troops to murder the brave mine-workers, to massacre their wives
and children with artillery, to burn down their dwellings and to
violate the proletarian women.
Long live the courageous proletariat of Asturias!
40
Long live the heroic proletariat of Asturias!
Workers !
The battle which has been fought is not the decisive battle.
The executioners of the working people should not exult too
early at their victory. We have returned to work, but we are
ready to gather our forces again, to take up the fight again at
a more favorable moment, and with greater confidence in victory
than ever before. Let us learn from events and make use of the
experience. That will strengthen us on the sure way to victory.
The Communist Party, which flung itself into the fight with
all its forces although it did not agree altogether with the tactics
and methods of organization of the fight, which did not spare
itself any effort nor shrink from sacrifices in order to place itself
at the head of the fighting masses, now invites all workers to
draw the lessons from this fight not only in order to solve the
doubts and questions which today confront thousands of pro-
letarians, but in order to arm them with the theory and correct
tactics which will lead us to victory in the coming fights.
Why did we not win the victory?
Among all the exploited there was no lack of will and courage,
determination and firmness, devotion and sacrifice. Why, then,
did we not win the victory? Because, as our Party has repeatedly
declared, there was not sufficient political and organizational pre-
paration for the revolution, because its program was not brought
to the knowledge of the whole of the working masses, because the
advantages which the revolution will bring to the workers, the
peasants, the soldiers and all the exploited had. not been popular-
ized.
The fact that the revolution cannot be simply made but
must be organized, that the organization of the revolution cannot
be confined to groups of volunteers who are "ready for every-
thing", but that all the forces of the working class and the imme-
diate allies of the revolution, the peasants, must be draivn into
the fight — all this was ignored.
The resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party, published in the Mundo Obrero (World of Labor) of
September 17, stated: u The Workers 9 Alliances, as their name
implies, arise as the organ of one of the main driving forces of
the revolution, namely, the proletariat, which is a guiding forces
— but they fail to recognize the second main driving force, repre-
sented by the peasantry, without the alliance with which there
can be no guarantee of the socialist revolution." This is the
reason why the army, except in a few isolated cases, did not also
join in the fight on the side of the workers.
The overwhelming majority of the soldiers are peasants, and
they will only go over to the side of the revolution if it satisfies
their requirements. As they did not know what the revolution
ivould give them, the tremendous forces of the village, for the far
greater part, did not join the fight.
The problem of power, the main question of every revolution,
was not presented plainly and clearly to the proletariat and the
masses of the peasantry. The greater majority of them therefore
did not know into whose hands and into what organs they had to
place power, and what power meant for them. There was lacking
a program — this force which, when it becomes embodied in the
masses, causes them to defy death in order that the program
shall be realized in life.
In the above-mentioned resolution of the C.C. of the C.P.
it is stated:
'The fight to smash the regime of the bourgeoisie and land-
owners and for the power of the workers and peasants presup-
pose* the political and organizational preparation of the masses
for the achievement of this aim. Therefore, the propaganda of
the program of the workers' and peasants' government, setting
forth that which the victorious revolution will give to the working
people, must be intensified among the working masses in town
and country."
The facts have confirmed the correctness of this estimate.
In order to throw the whole mass of the toiling people into the
fight, it is necessary that they be previously permeated with the
program, which must become the flag of the advance-guard,
summoning them to the fight. As this was not the case, the
enormous forces represented by the proletariat in every factory,
42
in every mine and every field, were untapped. For this reason
neither factory committees nor committees of peasants nor the
Alliances were set up in every place where exploitation took place
— in which workers, peasants and soldiers should be directly
represented — that is to say. organs for preparation of the armed
revolt, embryonic organs of power of the victorious revolution
i Soviets I .
The fact that all this was lacking is not due to chance.
It was in accordance with an unclear view of tactics. There was
lacking both the theory and practice of the revolution. There teas
lacking the unity and iron discipline which must characterize
the party of the revolution. Within the Socialist Party there are
to be found devoted revolutionaries together with elements which
do not conceal their hostility to any revolutionary action. This
fact was bound to be reflected in a number of vacillations in
regard to directions and some confused and contradictory in-
structions.
This was the reason for the terrible mistake that the gen-
eral strike was not carried out before the formation of the
hangmen's government of Lerroux. This meant that the initiative
was left in the hands of the enemy.
Another terrible mistake was to entrust the issue of the fight
to such vacillating persons as Companys and his like, who out of
fear of the development of the people's revolution capitulated to
the forces of the enemy, or to the Republican army commanders,
instead of the united masses of the workers. In order to ensure
the victory of the revolution it is necessary that the leadership
of the revolution shall remain in all its forms in the hands of
the exploited. That is the only guarantee of victory. Our heroic
comrades in Asturias and the Basque province have proved this.
"The emancipation of the working class can only be the work of
the workers themselves" (Marx). This fact was not realized in
its whole significance.
Comrades anarchists, take note!
The Communist Party endeavored in good time to correct
these errors, and persisted in its endeavors in the course of the
fight, \evertheless. in spite of the seriousness of the errors, the
43
situation would not have developed in favor of the monarchist-
fascist canaille if, above all, the anarchist leaders of Barcelona
and Saragossa had not committed their shameful act of betrayal
of the revolution at the very moment when all the exploited of
Spain were fighting like lions with weapons in hand.
It is not merely the civil guards and storm guards, not only
the monarchist and fascist officers, not merely the machine guns
which for the moment decided the battle in favor of the blackest
reaction.
To the everlasting shame of the anarchist leaders, it
was their appeals, which they issued from the general head-
quarters of the fascist Batet in Barcelona. The leaders of the
Anarchist Federation prevented the victory of the revolution.
They sold their own anarchist comrades who, in Asturias, Madrid
and other places, realized their duty to their class and fought
bravely together with their Communist and Socialist brothers.
It is these anarchist leaders who are chiefly responsible for
the present situation. Do not forget this, comrades anarchists!
From what has already been said it is evident why the peasants
did not seize possession of and defend the land, uniting with the
proletariat in the fight, and why the great majority of the soldiers
did not fraternize with the workers and go over to the revolution.
Therefore the counter-revolutionary pack was able to tear down
the red flag of the revolution and hoist the black flag of tlie death
penalty, suppress all the democratic liberties of the working
people, pounce like jackals onto the defeated districts in Cata-
lonia and in the Basque province, entrust power into the hands
of the fascist monarchists and return to the monarchist-militarist-
jesuit past.
Everything that is reactionary and backward in society, the
whole combined forces of counter-revolution, are hastening to
celebrate their triumph. But they are in too much of a hurry.
They can shoot, imprison, increase the misery and hunger among
the working people still more, but the hungry will not become
satisfied by fasts, the pains and tears of the mothers and women
of the people will not be stopped by the whips and blows of
the civil and storm guards. It is impossible to satisfy the people
44
with blows of the butts of rifles and bayonet stabs, nor to hold
back with the voice of command of the arrogant generals the
disaster to industry and agriculture which the Lerroux regime
has brought.
The workers want bread and work; the peasants want land;
the whole people want freedom. In the heart of every worker and
every peasant there lives the will to fight and take revenge. The
class hatred against this regime of hunger, misery and terror is
spreading — below the surface — and sullen hatred is germinating
in the depths of the working masses, which will break out — and
this not before long. Taught by these events, these masses are
being better steeled for the fight, better organized to march for-
ward to victory under the leadership of their class advance-guard.
The fight is not yet at an end.
This is proved by the fact that the band of clerical-fascist
hangmen are far from having mastered the situation. In Asturias
the proletarian legions are continuing their heroic fight. The
same can be said of the mining district of Biscay. Today the
proletarian forces are retreating, but at the same time are pre-
paring to employ new fighting tactics based on a new organiza-
tion.
The great battle for bread, land, and freedom has not yet
been fought. The Workers' and Peasants' Alliances are being
formed in the working-class centers. We shall convert every fac-
tory into a stronghold of the revolution. We have fought unitedly
and we shall advance unitedly more firmly than ever. We shall
discuss in a brotherly manner the experiences, the positive sides
and the mistakes of the past fight, but nothing can destroy the
unity of action of the Communist and Socialist workers. And we
shall continue in our endeavors to draw to our side the anarchist
workers who have so clearly perceived the shameful attitude of
their leaders in this movement.
We shall continue unitedly to defend tooth and nail the heroes
of red Asturias and the Basque provinces, to prevent reprisals
by the fascist employers. We shall continue united in the fight
against the government, against the death penalty and against
the monarchist-clerical-fascist reaction; united in order to support
45
the prisoners, to fight for land for the peasants, for freedom of
the press, of meeting and the trade unions, for the freedom for
the people of Catalonia and all suppressed nations, for the dis-
arming of the fascist hordes and for the arming of the workers
and peasants; united to form a single anti-fascist bloc and for
the power of the workers, peasants and soldiers.
Socialist and anarchist workers!
The facts have shown the correctness of our political line, of
our tactics and our revolutionary fighting tactics. They have
proved once again that there can be only one party of the revolu-
tion, and that this party is the party which bases its activity on
the tremendous experiences of two glorious and victorious revolu-
tions, of Russia and Soviet China. Everywhere where our forces
predominate, as in Asturias and the Basque provinces, the form
of organization and tactics made possible glorious achievements
which today are the pride of all revolutionaries of Spain. Our
Party, in spite of the reactionary storm which is raging around it,
remains at the head of the fight of the oppressed masses. More
than ever their firm hands are grasping the flag of socialist revo-
lution against the cowardly calumniators and against the lackeys
of capital. And thus, as in the past, they are holding aloft this
flag on which is inscribed the battle cry for land, bread and
freedom, the battle cry of the Soviets, for the triumph of
Socialism.
For the first time in the history of the Spanish revolution the
flag of the Soviets has been raised and defended in the revolu-
tionary fight against the bourgeois-landlord regime. In Asturias
the Socialist Republic lived and still lives on the basis of the
Soviets.
A new chapter has commenced in the history of the pro-
letariat and of the peasant masses of Spain. Today the prole-
tariat knows from its own experience that only under the flag of
the Soviets can it conquer. The future fights will be waged under
this sign, and we shall be victorious.
Comrades all, keep a stout heart! Today let us more than
ever maintain faith in victory! Let us close our ranks firmly,
courageously and calmly, collect our forces, maintain discipline.
46
Let us extend our battalions! Strengthen the advance-guard of
the fight, come into the Communist Party! Workers, peasants,
soldiers, gather round our flag and let us march in firm ranks to
victory !
Long live the workers' and peasants' government!
Long live the Soviets!
Long live the proletariat united in the Alliance of the workers
and peasants!
Long live the world revolution and its general staff, the Com-
munist International!
Long live the Communist Party of Spain!
Communist Party of Spain
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